


Another Chance: Interlude

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Another Chance (Pern/DCU fusion) [3]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Aliens Make Them Do It, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Dubious Consent, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 12:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the colony grows, so do the survivors find new aspects of themselves... with a little push here and there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Chance: Interlude

_Roughly three years after Landing_

Dinah had come over to see if Roy was in, to ask if he knew why her queen might be acting out lately, since he stayed in such close touch with the Connell boy, and everyone knew he was one of the best with the dragonets. Slade met her at the door, alerted by Major's sudden intense interest that someone was coming. "Dinah?"

"Roy's not in?" she asked, disappointed.

"No, he's not, but he should be home soon. Come in?" he stepped back, trying to let her in, watching Major flutter around Hope even more than was usual.

Hope hissed at Major, warning him away, her color very bright.

"I might not ought to, Slade... she's in a temper."

"It's all right. Major can handle her temper, and if she's being strange..."

"Why I came. Thought Roy might have an idea." She did come in, though, and sat down.

He nodded, and came to settle near her. "What's she been doing, other than snapping at my bronze?"

"She didn't want to be oiled, or groomed, and she keeps leaving my side, giving me visions of the beach." She looked up as Hope vanished. "Going away by teleporting instead of flying, like that."

Major followed her immediately, startling Slade a little. His bronze tended to stay close to him. "That's not normal for her... her color's off, too."

"Yes..." Dinah felt a flush of heat run through her as her queen flashed her images of hunting large fish out at sea, diving and catching.

"What is it, Dinah?" Slade shifted close to her, reaching out, feeling the oddest emotions from Major... hunger and... anticipation?

Her eyes flashed up to his at that touch, feeling a pressure of ...desires? that she had thought long gone from her. "I ... maybe I should go..."

"No, Dinah, it's all right, stay."

"Stay?" Dinah was distracted from the desire by the hot, savory taste of raw flesh going -- but, no, that wasn't her, that was Hope.

"Yes, Dinah. It's all right..." Major's emotions surged higher, all anticipation and... not hunger, but need...

"Oh," she breathed when Hope suddenly launched away from her food, bronzes and browns flocking around where Major was watching her.

"Dinah... they're..."

She looked at him, then found some strength inside to resist as Hope challenged the males. "Slade, I... really..."

"What?" He asked, feeling possessiveness pouring off of Major -- //clutch-mate, he's//

"I should -- should leave..." She swallowed against the dryness in her throat, feeling the exhilaration of flying fast, far, welling inside Hope.

He took a long, slow breath, fighting the instincts from Major enough to look at her clear-eyed, "You don't need to." He pulled gently at her hand, trying to get her to stay, even as part of his brain disagreed entirely with that idea.

"But..." Dinah looked up into his face, saw something there, felt so many things welling within her, urges that refused to be suppressed by grief any longer. "I'll stay."

"And we'll be fine," he said as he pulled her close, not trapping her, but letting her know he was real and right there, with her, while their small partners had their way.

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah felt the presence of a man's arms around her, the feel of a solid body pressed close. For a moment, it was almost as if she were in Oliver's arms again. Her sleepy mind warned her that Mia would probably be hungry and need to be changed soon. That thought pulled her to a higher state of consciousness... and her world shifted to the present. The man with her was bigger, more solid than Oliver had been, and there would be no cry. That life was lost, torn from her when the Nathi attacked her satellite. The flood of the present over those hazy memories of happiness was too much in the bed of a man she had only known a few years, and she had to bite hard at her lip to keep from crying.

The feeling of tension against his chest was enough to bring Slade towards consciousness, his eye opening as he started to question his wife what had her on edge... but black hair on a too-tiny woman reminded him strongly that this wasn't Addie. He remembered the little dragonets pressing at them, need and desire flooding both of them, and spoke to her softly, "Dinah."

"Slade." She managed to turn to face him, separating their too-close bodies, and keeping the sheet up around her shoulders in doing so. "I..." The storm of pain and memory in her eyes said as much to him as the light traces of stretch marks had in his passion the night before.

//Should have let her leave,// the thought burned like acid as he watched her, lost for words for a long moment. He'd thought she'd been willing to stay, but the look on her face, "...are you... no. Is there any way I can help?"

//Is there help for this?// She started to ask that thought, burned by the bitter waking -- until she met his gaze fully, and saw the same haunting there. "My first...since..." It was a stumbling attempt to explain, and she felt more naked by that admission than for the fact only a sheet hid her from him.

"Since you lost your.. partner?" Slade asked softly, watching her face for the reaction, and nodded. "Mine as well, Dinah." That was easier to admit that than he'd thought it would be, with her so upset and hurting.

"I was married. My first love, and we'd been together some time before -- before we were approved to try for a child." Satellites had to be careful to balance the growth of their population against available resources, Slade knew, and he had heard of such controls. "I... I was in my lab, the cycle the Nathi came. Because I had been unable to sleep. I had left... Oliver sleeping. Our daughter was asleep too." She needed to say it, needed to get it out, and the awkwardness of where she was was not enough to stop her from speaking.

Slade reached out, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, and just nodded, listening, waiting for her to speak again. //Husband and daughter,// the idea that she'd lost just as much as he had clawed at him.

"My whole family was in quarters. And that is the side that was struck, opened... but my lab was deep in the core, with enough power of its own to keep the air cycling." She moved toward him, feeling safer as their dragonets wove a net of loving concern around them both. "It was dark, and I could not move much... the FSP came. They said it had only been four or five cycles since the attack. In the dark, I had no idea how long, so trapped... hoping that they were alright..."

Slade flinched for her, even as he curled the hand on her shoulder down around her back to keep her closer, letting her talk it out, adding his concern to what the dragonets were pressing to them. "You'd been trapped for days..." The thought made him shudder again.

"There had been survivors. But the relief vessels each could only take a few." She dropped her eyes, her voice. "It took me over three weeks to know for certain...."

"...that you'd lost them." He couldn't imagine _weeks_ of not knowing if Addie and his sons were dead, of -- His arm tightened around her. "You must have nearly gone mad."

Dinah nodded sharply, but now she could not resist pushing closer to him, until she was resting with her brow on his chest, and their legs were touching again. "I joined the Forces then, using what I knew of biological chemicals against the Nathi. Later, I was able to engineer solutions to some of their contaminants on the worlds so hard hit."

"I knew you were talented, but that... I am impressed," he told her, meaning every word of it as he held her against his chest gently, feeling the dragonets gentle concern and worry with affection of his own -- it wasn't truly the little creatures' fault they'd gotten caught up in their mating. "Those contaminants of theirs had gone a long way towards ruining our world."

"You... I don't want to be alone, but if this -- I can tell you were married. It shows... and I won't -- I don't want to lose your friendship." She was scared, even as she reached out, hoping for something more than just the press of instinct in this.

Slade studied her face for a moment, then settled her in closer against his body, stroking his hand gently down her back again. "I was. But if you remember, I asked you to stay, Dinah."

"You did," she whispered, and it slowly crossed her face just how much that stunned her. "Then... it's not just instincts, or being nice to Roy's friend?"

"No, Dinah. It wasn't, and it's not. You're a beautiful, intelligent woman, and a friend."

That got her to relax the rest of the tension away, and she settled closer to him. "I can go... but I'd really like to stay, I think."

"I would rather you stay," he told her quietly, and considered his next words for a few moments. "I'm not the husband you lost, and you're not the wife I buried... but I do care for you." He stroked her shoulder again, trying to determine if he'd done more harm than good.

"It's a start, right?" She nuzzled at his throat gently.

"It's a start," he agreed, slowly tipping his head back to let her have his throat, fingers running over her back gently. "I had two sons with my wife, before the wars reached us."

"How old were they?" She shifted up on an elbow so she could watch his face, her hand stroking over his neck and shoulder. "Mia was so close to her first birthday."

Slade closed his eye, hand still on her back. "Grant was almost five, Joe was two. Addie'd been part of the Forces -- an instructor, actually -- before Grant was born, but once he was, she'd left to raise him. We couldn't have both of us on the front lines, we thought. We were still in the middle of moving down into the caverns after the attacks started, but we'd gotten delayed. I was in the middle of one of the battles... and came home finally only to find out --"

Her hand tightened on his shoulder, eyes going wide in shock for him. "You... oh, Slade!" 

He pressed into her touch deliberately, letting the pain in her voice soothe a little of his re-awakened grief. //They'd have been safer if she had been with me...//

Her hand moved up over his cheek, before she leaned in and kissed him lightly. "I don't think I could have been strong enough to go on, if I had seen..."

He left his eye closed, but nodded, trying to pull himself out of the guilt and grief. "It... wasn't easy. But I had more than enough reason to go back into active duty." Major's warm jaw settled on his other shoulder as his little friend trilled worriedly, nuzzling him. "It's all right, Major," he reassured the dragonet. "Grant would be almost Dick and Roy's age, now. One reason I couldn't leave the two of them," he told her, eye opening to look at her face.

She was watching him with genuine empathy, her body language open to him, and filled with anguish that they both knew that much pain. "Those two are the best I've seen on this planet," she told him. "A lot of it is their own good sense, but you've shaped them too, and it was in good ways."

Slade stroked his hand up over her cheek gently, and couldn't help a proud, slow, even if still slight smile at her words. "They're good young men," he nodded, "but I think you're giving me too much credit for them."

"Maybe I am," she said in turn. "I'm sure I'll see as time goes by." She settled, this time on his shoulder with her head, her hand over his heart, and one leg sliding up over his to rest there.

The way she curled in against him so naturally made him purr softly, arms settling closer around her. It felt... amazingly good to hold her that way, to have her there. Major trilled in his ear, absolute contentment in the dragonet's emotions as he moved away from his shoulder far enough to... twine necks with Hope against Dinah's back, he saw.

Dinah felt the small pressure of the two dragonets, the reassuring comfort of Slade's arm around her, and closed her eyes. "Just tell me when to go so I don't scandalize you with the boys," she murmured.

"It would be interesting to be the one scandalizing them, for a change," Slade snorted at the amusing thought, petting her gently.

"I think it's absolutely wonderful that they found each other to be the right one, so young," Dinah said, very well aware of the deeper connection between her young friend and his partner.

"They are good for each other," he agreed. "Always have been, it seems like." He traced his hand down her back where the dragonets weren't, just a simple caress.

She twitched, into it, not away, and he glimpsed the need for touch that she had been denying for far too long. "Hmm. Could go back to sleep, and I'm not sure that's just Hope's fault."

"Sleep doesn't sound like a bad idea," he said quietly, fingers running along her skin again, lightly.

"Good." She turned her head enough to kiss his bare skin, then settled and let herself savor the security of the moment. The past could stay where it belonged; this was supposed to be a place of new beginnings. He let himself settle as well, feeling the light pressure of her breathing against his chest, the fall of her hair against his skin... still dark out, more than enough time to sleep some more.

`~`~`~`~`

Roy sleepily drug himself out of the bedroom he and Dick shared, fussing at his dragonet for being a glutton and so hungry, before he froze in the hallway. Clearly that was a woman's voice, murmuring softly, in Slade's bedroom. In fact, it sounded vaguely like his Dinah's voice, but that just wasn't possible, since Dinah was surely at the agro sheds by now. She didn't understand the concept of a Rest Day and even if she did, she would not be in Slade's bedroom after all.

Trouble cheeped indignantly, and tugged at his shirt again, wings fluttering.

"Shh, Trouble..." Roy fussed, softly. He continued on his way past the bedroom in question, and almost gawked at the door when he very clearly heard Dinah ask if Slade knew where her pants were, in that soft, no-nonsense way of hers.

It was another moment before Slade answered, low and amused, "...under my shirt, apparently."

Roy picked up speed then, and got into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl of chopped fish pieces, and back to the shared bedroom where Dick was being wakened by his little friend.

"'Mano, the strangest thing's going on..."

"nnn... Nothing new about these guys pretending they're starving," Dick protested sleepily. "Chakano, quit that," he complained at his bronze.

Roy just uncovered the bowl on their desk, and let the pair feed themselves this time. He slid back into bed with Dick and shook his head. "Dinah's here."

Dick shook the sleep out of his eyes and nearly sat up, looking at him. "Is she okay?"

"Oh, she was looking for her pants." Roy started to see the humor of the situation and managed to get his face mostly blank.

"...what? I can't have heard you right."

Roy nodded, then grinned. "Of course, hearing Slade tell her they were under his shirt is funny as hell, now that I can get over the shock of, well, DINAH, having stayed the night."

"..." Dick just stared at him for long moments, before he shook his head. "Slade and _Dinah_?"

"Yep." Roy's eyes went wide. "Oh man. Remember Trouble and Chakano being so weird yesterday?"

"Yeah, I do... What're you thinking?"

"I'm thinking it might have been Major and Hope. If the two of them got into something, that would explain how come she was over here -- ya know, without me around? And Slade's pretty damn protective of us, so if she got upset... maybe he reached out to her, because of Hope."

"Maybe. I mean, that'd be like him... but for her to have stayed?" Dick was still trying to figure that one out. It just didn't match everything they'd seen of her, or really of Slade, unless Major and Hope really had gotten into some kind of trouble... "Guess the only way to find out is to be up when they come out."

Roy shrugged, noted the dragonets were once again reduced to swollen bellies with lumps, and grinned. "Gluttons." He got up and got the bowl to go clean it up, hoping Dick followed.

Dick slid out of the bed and went to dig out clothing of his own, then followed Roy, stopping only to rub at Chakano's eye ridges. The very sleepy dragonet cheeped, which led to a burp, and then curled around his swollen body to sleep it out.

The boys were in the kitchen when they finally heard the door of the bedroom open. Roy looked at Dick, then got back to his feet from the breakfast he had scrounged to go peek out of the kitchen. "Hey Slade, you want -- Oh, hi, Dinah," he said with a surprised but ingenuous tone.

"Umm, hi..." Dinah's cheeks were pale pink now, as she tried very hard to remember she was a grown woman, well-able to choose a lover.

Dick shook his head at Roy's back and called out, "Good morning," to them both. "We hit the breakfast supplies pretty hard, but I think there's enough for both of you, if you're hungry, Dinah..."

Slade looked over Dinah's head at Roy, cocking his head to the side just a little. He knew what actual surprise sounded like on him by now, and that wasn't quite it.

Roy kept a perfectly innocent face to Slade's inquiry his way. "Yeah, Di, be glad to share breakfast with you. That way I'll know you ate at least once." 

"Well, Hope is hungry, but I can always catch a late bowl from Pierre..." she started, before glancing back up at Slade to see if he wanted her to stay even longer, now that the boys obviously knew she was in the house.

"Why don't you stay, Dinah, if they actually did leave enough for anyone else... and good morning, Dick," Slade added as he stepped into the kitchen.

Dick waved, considering appropriate responses to that jibe.

Dinah nodded just a tiny bit at both boys, and accepted the other open chair. "Thank you." She stroked Hope's eye ridge, calming her as Roy quickly gave her a bowl of meat for her queen, before getting her a bowl of hot cereal for herself.

"It's a Rest Day, Dinah; you planning to explore or work at your shed?" Roy asked her. Dinah slowly shrugged one shoulder, feeding Hope on the other one a piece at a time. Roy noted that the tiny queen was very gold, almost shining, and that Major had such a smug look to him, like he had hunted far too well.

That Dinah didn't have immediate plans for the day -- he'd never seen her not busy with something -- was enough to draw Dick's attention, and he looked back at her, seeing Hope's bright glow just as quickly as Roy had. He glanced back up at Slade, cocking his head a little.

Slade shrugged a shoulder slightly, leaning back against the counter near Dinah to eat.

"I think I might go to the sheds for a little while today. I have a few plants needing to transfer from the starters to the ground," Dinah noted, after Hope was sated enough to let her think about her breakfast. "Then I'd like to gather a few fruits up to send to Pierre's kitchens for tonight's gathering."

"Does that mean you'll come to it tonight?" Roy asked, jumping on the opening. Dinah's eyes flicked back at Slade for a moment, before she nodded. 

"I think I'd like to."

"If you're going to be in the sheds today, Dinah, I think I'm going to steal Roy and go out hunting -- any preferences on what we go for, Slade?"

"Not really," Slade shrugged a shoulder. "Though we've been pretty heavy on fish and beef recently." 

"Right, go see if we can find one of the inland wherry packs... flocks?"

"I'm no vet, but I'd call them a pack, the way they hunt," Roy said. His eyes had lit up at the idea of hunting with his partner. "We'll test that new trap Sean was showing off, Dick."

Dinah smiled at seeing her young friend light up over something so simple but necessary to their way of life. None of the four of them relied too much on Stores for anything now, having adapted native plants and foods to their uses quite well.

Dick grinned back at him, nodding. "Yeah, see if we can settle the argument he and Sorka were having over it," he agreed, then his lips quirked wryly. "Yeah, right."

"Those two argue just so Sorka can get Sean to talk," Roy said with a roll of his eyes. "Hey, Slade, what are you going to be up to? I'm sure Di could use a hand digging, if you're not busy."

"That's not necessary," Dinah said quickly, not wanting to importune on the man.

Slade snorted softly. "It sounds more entertaining than trying to figure out where the flaw is in the newest set of housing plans, Dinah, if you wouldn't mind the company."

Dick chuckled at Roy, "Yeah, you're right, they do. How big a stick do you think she's going to have to hit him with before he pays attention?"

"'Mano, that's going to take a club the size of one of those fellis trees," Roy laughed.

Dick laughed just as much, grinning, "You're probably right about that."

Hope chose that moment to trill very invitingly to Major, who warbled right back at her. Both Dinah and Slade got the impression the two were very content with their humans' choice to stay together for the day. Dinah blushed faintly, because Hope's intent for cuddling with Major was quite clear to her. Roy noted the flush, looked at the two dragonets again, and decided he might need to go ask Pol and Bay a question or two.

Slade left his breakfast plate on the table to step over to Dinah, hand on her shoulder lightly. "Well, _they_ certainly have opinions on the day," he said, more amused than anything, and shook his head.

Dick slid to his feet, took care of the remnants of his own breakfast and the rest of the plates while he was at it, and glanced at Roy. "I'd say let's go ahead and go, but Trouble and Chakano will give us fits if we leave without them."

"Think I can coax Trouble into the sling he uses on my trips out with Di," Roy mused, even as he felt his heart thump to see Dinah reach up and cover that hand on her shoulder. That she could be that far along in being okay with someone else...especially Slade...was great progress. "Not too hard to rig one for Chakano real quick."

"I'll need to go by my place, change into sturdier clothes," Dinah told Slade, glancing up at him.

"True. Let's go work on that," Dick nodded, brushing against Slade's other shoulder as he headed out of the kitchen.

"I probably should too," Slade nodded. "Or at least older ones." He leaned his shoulder into that brief contact with Dick, then watched Roy make measurements with his hands as he walked away with him. Dinah rose, moving her hand to steady Hope, before looking at Slade.

"See you at the sheds? Maybe an hour or so?" She realized she was just as eager for the company as Hope was -- and suspected her dragonet of influencing her.

"I'll see you then, Dinah," Slade nodded, fingers sliding up over her cheek for a moment.

Hope chirped indignantly at her and flitted to twine necks with Major, presenting her person with her back. Dinah's eyebrow rose, but then her features softened, and she reached out, caressing Major's head as well.

"Silly little things, both of you," she murmured softly at them, before her hand slid off Major and onto Slade's arm for a brief moment. Major chirped at her lightly, pressing his ridge into her hand before she moved her hand away. She then moved to leave completely, hand going up to soothe her offended queen.

"Yes they are," Slade chuckled as Hope ignored her completely for a moment, then crawled up her forearm, chirping at her. Dinah smiled at her friend, then at Slade, and left for work clothes.

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah was reluctant to go home, having enjoyed a fine meal, this one cooked by both boys. This reluctance had been growing for the several weeks of the odd relationship growing between Slade and Dinah. She wasn't one to be forward for herself, but Roy thought it had something to do with Dinah's flat mate having moved out two weeks prior. Even with as little as Dinah had been home, at least when she was, there'd been someone else there.

Major wandered down the couch to perch on her lap solidly, then looked up at his person with a strong whirl of happy green in his eyes.

Dick chuckled softly as Chakano made an almost-mocking chirp and flipped his wings before settling back on Roy's thigh next to Trouble. "What, Chaka'. are you being jealous?"

Trouble answered for the other dragonet, with irritated chirps before rubbing his head against Chakano's.

"Don't think Major wants you to go home tonight, Dinah," Roy said, keeping his tone carefully innocent.

"Certainly looks like he doesn't," Slade agreed, hand still petting one of Hope's wings, to her trilling contentment. "And he has a point. There's not much sense in you going back to that empty flat."

"I don't want to impose." Major met those words with a very gentle chirp of negation, standing up with wings slightly out, one paw balancing on Dinah's chest as he looked up at her. 

"Dinah, it's not like you're ever unwelcome here," Roy said. "You have a real bad habit of going home... and then heading back over to the sheds instead of sleeping. I know you do, Mar Dook ratted you out where I could hear."

"You're not an imposition, Dinah," Slade said as soon as Roy stopped, his lips narrowed a little at Roy's last words.

Dick blinked, twisting around to watch them both a little better. He'd known Slade was fast growing closer to her, so had he, for that matter, but this...

Dinah looked down at Major, her hands moving over the worried dragonet gently. Hope moved back to her, crooning softly at her friend's twisting emotions. When Dinah looked up, a second before Roy would have gone to her side, she had wet eyes but was smiling softly. "I would really like to stay with you, Slade." She glanced at the boys. "All of you make me feel happy to be here."

Slade moved Hope to his shoulder to go to her, weight light on the couch next to her. "Good. Then stay."

She pressed into his sheltering arm as he offered it around her, and Roy had to grin at the size differential between them again, even as he felt Trouble's impression that the couple were right.

"Dick can help me go get your things tomorrow after work," Roy announced, to make this official and permanent.

"Sure, Dinah. That won't take all that long," Dick threw in, grinning. She was such a tiny little woman, but she and Slade really seemed like they fit pretty well, now.

Slade nodded approvingly and moved to press closer to her, tucking her in against his body. Hope and Major both chirruped contentedly, eyes sparkling content blues and greens now.

Roy caught Dick's eye then, a private thought of them getting a place soon flashing through his eyes. They'd discussed it, but neither one wanted Slade to be alone. It didn't take long to recognize that look and Dick nodded just slightly. Yes, some of the other houses had already cleared out as people left Landing for their stakes, but it would still make more sense to take her place over, if she was going to be there to make sure Slade wasn't alone now.

Roy would leave that for another day's discussion, though, as he went to tackle the dishes, so that Slade and Dinah could have a quiet time together. He knew Dick would follow him on through the house, and he did, trailing him on into the kitchen to let Slade and Dinah just be together. He was still a little bit startled that it had been the dragonets' mating flight that pushed them together, but they were definitely good for each other.

"Meddlesome," Slade muttered under his breath as the boys both vanished, but the expression was entirely fond.

"They love you," Dinah clarified. "And I think they might like me a little." She resumed petting and scratching Major, making the bronze thrum with delight, even as Hope found a new way to get comfortable.

"They like you more than a little," Slade said, shaking his head at her even as he tensed against the gold twisting around on his shoulder. "So do I."

She smiled up at him. "I do like you a lot, Slade, and I hope I'm not going to mess that up by staying with you."

"I don't think we will, Dinah. We do well together." He pressed a light kiss against her hair at that smile.

"Alright." She closed her eyes, before the very heavy uncomfortable feeling Hope was having came over her too. "And you, little miss queen, need to figure out where you are laying the eggs, because on the floor with a rug is not adequate," Dinah fussed. Bay had told her that most of the enhanced ones had tried to return to where they had hatched.

"Wouldn't be that much work to bury a heat pad under enough sand off the beach in one of the bigger packing crates, if we're going to spoil her anyway," Slade said idly.

"Hmm. Maybe moving me can wait a day, so we can do that for her." She sighed softly. "Have to find them homes, too, as I'm not having a fair flitting around me while I try to dig tubers."

Slade chuckled softly. "Hm. Talk to some of the younger children's parents? They seem to be coming into favor as companions for the children, just as much as the adults."

"True." Dinah reached out and stroked Hope lightly. "Suit you, my dear?" The queen made a low, noncommittal rumble at that.

"More likely that we'll do that for her and the boys will move you," Slade said to an earlier comment, then studied Hope, amused. "She doesn't seem to care much for the idea."

"I can handle that." Dinah settled in. "Care to walk me over for clothes for now? Work off some of dinner."

"Of course," Slade said easily, stroking down her side.

She rose carefully, transferring Major to the warm place. "You two stay here, since the night's a little cool."

Major waited until Slade lifted Hope down from his shoulder, then curled around her, one wing draped over her.

Dinah smiled again, smitten with the two of their friends being so loving to each other. "Eat, sleep, and fuss... but oh, how pretty they are," she murmured. She then tucked into Slade's side for the walk, enjoying the quiet closeness he offered her so often.

"They are that... and there are times they're helpful. And more interesting than cats, at least."

They headed out, his arm still wrapped around her, to make the first step in what was fast becoming an honest partnership.

***

_Five years after Landing_

Chakano and Trouble dove from their favored perches to their persons' shoulders suddenly, hiding along the backs of their necks as Major rose up on his hindquarters, low sound almost like a hiss coming from his throat. The boys looked at Slade, both of them with hands up to gentle their friends, stroking at eye-ridges and the undersides of wings gently. Dick was the one that asked, as usual, "Slade?"

"...I don't know, but I think... Hope is in a temper."

Roy shook his head. "Wonder who --"

He didn't get further, because Chakano cheeped in worry and fear at him, interrupting him.

Dinah strode into their quarters, door knocking into the wall behind her, her language partially Basic, partially the argot of a satellite dweller, and all very descriptively painful toward one person as Hope bristled on her shoulder, eyes whirling fast and bright.

Slade stood up, slow and easy, and moved over towards her, reaching out a hand. "Dinah..."

Chakano cheeped very quietly, eyes whirling in faint orange distress at the bright orange-red of anger in his queen's eyes, and nuzzled closer into Dick's hair. Trouble was pacing back and forth across Roy's shoulders, a low hiss/rumble escaping him.

"That idiot Tubberman!" Dinah snarled. "And he's got damn near everyone convinced! Eridani techniques on Native plants.... Terran and Centauri adaptations..." She was not really willing to settle, but she did move into her partner's arms, falling back into the satellite dialect in her temper.

Slade settled his hands low on her hips, holding her lightly as she seethed in fury. He stroked lightly at her sides, letting her snarl and hiss as much as she wanted as he tried to settle her down, while Roy stiffened under Trouble's pacing, his own eyes flashing. "As much as we can use _straight_ out of the ground, he wants to go mucking with more of it?"

"It's -- it's criminal, Slade, even if they do have the 'right' to. And if I and the other native botany specialists don't hurry up, we could damn well lose the native ecosystem to aggressive, invasive species!" She looked up at him. "I've done all I can in the space they allotted me here! I've got to prove some of the native species will culture well as field crops!"

"All right, Dinah. All right, settle down. That just means we finally _have_ to go claim a stake, love." He pressed a kiss against her forehead gently. More than two years with her, and they both easily admitted they were deep in love with each other. "There's still plenty of land between Greg and Johnny and the Paradise River mouth, if we want to stay close enough to Landing for some of the others to come over easily... if not, farther south wouldn't bother me. Out of these tropics doesn't sound like a bad idea, either."

Dinah looked up at him, then back at the boys. "What about you two? Planning to tie stakes close to us, or what? Because if you are... I'd love to hear where you want to be."

"That's just so you can plot which crops to try where," Roy said slyly.

Dick smacked the back of his head, over Trouble's wings, and shrugged a shoulder at Dinah. "Doesn't make a lot of sense for us not to tie close to you, once we decide to settle down that much, Dinah, does it?"

Slade made a soft noise, "You might wa --"

And Roy snorted at him, crossing his arms. "How long did it take for us to even move out of the house, Slade? Be reasonable."

Dinah shook her head, still sometimes amazed at the ease with which the four of them had made a family. Granted, she'd never pressed for a marriage contract through Cherry Duff, but then, neither she nor Slade really needed that. "A little south of the river mouth would be better for what I want to do, to get some clear land without uprooting old wood."

"All right, Dinah. Dick, can Fulmar spare one of the sleds tomorrow? Possibly for the next few days?"

"For you, Slade, after you figured out that problem with the capacitors we were having? He'd make the space in the lists. But it won't be a problem. So many people have left already that we've got more than we need, most days."

"Yeah, which just means people are more likely to borrow them for less important stuff," Roy snorted softly. He was just glad he'd been working down in the vet sheds all day, and not up with Dinah in agro, or he might have decked the idiot.

"So we scout, take a look at what was claimed, and take a good look at possibilities. We have to stay somewhat close to Landing, or those idiots --" Dinah took a deep breath. "So I can show off my results."

Slade nodded, slowly pulling her in against his body, and Hope leapt up to join Major on his shoulder.

Dinah settled down slowly, and that let Hope get over her rage. Once their queen was settled down, the boys' friends settled too, flitting over to nuzzle her gently.

~*~*~

_Six years after Landing_

Dick grinned ahead of him at the three bright red sets of hair and the dancing of the combined fairs of dragonets he, Sean, and Sorka had now -- mostly Sean and Sorka, who couldn't seem to be near a hatching without winding up with at least one. He still only had Chakano Impressed and named, but he and Roy seemed to have an ability to get the wild ones to listen -- though Dinah was even better at that. Something about having one of the enhanced queens, maybe.

It was almost unheard of for all four of them to all have a day off at the same time and not have _something_ go wrong, but he was happy it had. They didn't get to spend a quarter of the time together he would have preferred, especially now that Sean and Sorka were taking more and more on in the vet labs.

The dragonets were particularly happy, milling about and trilling at each other, darting through the air and playing a lively game of catch-me-if-you-can through the trees.

Wherry weren't too likely to come close to them, not with this many dragonets in such close range, but... it was always possible, and all of them were on the lookout for just that as they rode. He'd tried, once or twice, to convince Vic to come along, but his friend always protested there was still work to do -- and Roy had caught on before he had that Vic wasn't really... comfortable... out in the woods. Probably came from being from one of the megaplexes, they both thought, and the fact that Vic's prostheses were so extensive only made it worse. For all of that, he loved the world they were on as much as any of them. He just preferred its wildness to stay a little away from him. Like outside Landing's walls.

Roy turned in his saddle to look backwards and frowned, "Hey, Robbie, what's with the long face?"

"What d'you mean, Roy? I'm fine. Just thinking."

Sean looked over at Dick, then shrugged, turning his attention back to Sorka. "If we're going to hunt, we need to shoo off the lizards," he said.

"Dragonets," Sorka corrected, as always, and was ignored, as usual.

Dick couldn't help a low laugh, "Sorka, are you ever going to quit trying to win that argument? You've been at it since we landed on this planet."

Roy laughed softly, shaking his head. "And let him win? Irish stubborn beats Rom stubborn at least half the time..."

Dick rode up beside him, leaning enough to cup a hand behind his neck, "Really?"

Sean had snorted at that, looked at the pair, shook his head, and ordered the fair away. Only Roy and Dick's pair stayed, until Roy idly sent them a visual of Dinah's fields at the stake. They cheeped and vanished too, willing to go help her for the day.

"I don't see how he can still call them lizards. They're too soft." Sorka glared at Sean, blue eyes flashing.

"I know, Sorka," Dick laughed, "You'll notice, _I_ use your name for them..." he smiled over at her winningly, letting his hand drop away from Roy's neck by running it down his arm. Roy pressed into the touch, and let his own fingers curl around the tips of Dick's when he got there, catching his hand.

Sorka smiled back at Dick, and that made Sean grit his teeth a little, Roy noticed. //We~ll, now...//

"Coastal or forest wherries?" Sean asked them all to divert things -- and himself away from annoyance.

"We've had a lot of beef from those first older cattle the last couple of weeks," Sorka pointed out, "I wouldn't mind coastal... Dick, Roy?"

"Coast sounds good," Dick nodded. "Get dinner, get them field-dressed, and go for a swim?"

"No better way to get rid of the blood, after all..." he added after a moment, smile turned towards Sean this time.

"Point." Sean nodded at the older Rom. "Might have time to smoke the cuts on the beach while we swim."

Sorka nodded. "Keep the blowflies away?"

Roy nodded at that, "Yeah... and a fire that smoky... anyone else thinking fish for dinner? If we really need to, we can take the coast all the way back to Landing from this stretch..."

"Be a night out," Sean said with a frown. "To really get it, and make it worth our while."

"So we call back, and tell Admin that our party is camping over," Sorka said easily. "Not like we haven't before."

"Point, Sean, but we're none of us new to this." Dick laughed when Sorka practically read his mind, nodding. "Not like tunnel snakes will come around, not with all of our dragonets... and none of us ever leave without canvas in a pack, so we've got shelter enough if we even need it, warm as the nights are..."

"And it's not like we'll be slacking if we take down one apiece!" Roy whooped.

Dick leaned over and thwapped him in the shoulder, barely noticing the irritated look Sean threw his way. Sean and irritation was nothing new -- at least not when it was just the four of them; but it always blew over pretty quick.

Roy tussled back at him, grinning unrepentantly, while Sorka laughed softly.

"You two are so..." She just shook her head, but her mount moved a little closer to Sean's.

"So what?" Dick looked over at her curiously, paying half-attention to his minor scuffle with Roy, legs locked down around the mare's girth.

"Married!" she said in a bubble of laughter.

Roy laughed, shaking his head as he did, "Well... guess you've got a point, Sorka! Nobody else would have him, after all!" He absolutely knew he was lying as he said it; they both had had more than a few offers from the girls in their age group -- and not always just for one or the other of them!

Dick mock-glared at him even as he tried not to laugh, shaking his head. "Oh, and you'd be such a hot commodity, either?"

"You're definitely a pair," Sean said, a rare commentary from the young man that tended to just ignore the relationships around him.

Dick looked over at him, still grinning from teasing Roy, and shrugged a shoulder. "And you two aren't?"

He was only mostly teasing. He and Roy had known for years that Sorka was crazy about Sean, but... neither one of them was willing to mess with it, barring occasionally flirting with Sorka. Not more than they did with any of the other girls, but... just enough to prod at Sean a little.

"Point."

Sorka stared at Sean as in one word, he finally admitted to someone other than herself that they were a couple. That gave her a little more hope, though, that they'd be moving into their own quarters soon.

Roy shook his head quickly, blinking, but still shot back quicker than Dick could manage, grinning widely. "About time, man. About time. Sorka, what'd you hit him with?"

Dick gave up on smacking him and kicked a boot free to plant its toes in his calf. "Ignore him, Sorka..."

Roy yelped, behind closed teeth, and glared at his partner playfully.

"I'm not sure." She was fairly positive it was not time for a mating flight.

Dick laughed, shaking his head, and murmured very softly, "I'll kiss it later, but if you push Sean..."

Sean shrugged slightly, ignoring the pair off on the other side for the moment. "It's true," he said, and leaned to lay his hand on Sorka's knee for a long moment.

Sorka covered it with her own; she didn't mind the quiet nature of their relationship. It was a welcome change from her boisterous family, and the harshness of Sean's clan.

Dick's smile changed to something quieter as he watched the two of them, too. This was definitely a good thing, in his books. He'd seen more than enough of Sorka's flares of temper at Sean's thick-headed ignoring of what was between them for the rest of all of their lives. He waited a couple of moments, then said lightly, "The wherries aren't going to hunt themselves for us..."

"No, they won't," Sean said, and turned his attention toward the hunt. They each had a preferred weapon for this, nothing too high tech, but Roy took pride in being the one with a native-made bow. But for all of them, it really didn't get much better than this. Not when the whole world spread out in front of them.

`~`~`~`~`

The hunt for an adequate stake had taken up so much time and energy, that when they finally had the house up, Slade had very little energy to do more than fall into bed with his partner. Dinah was already asleep, but she molded to him unconsciously. Hope and Major curled in a tight ball together up on her pillow as she was mostly on his.

He slowly let his eye close, feeling a sense of security and belonging that really had settled deep in his soul. From the peaceful breathing of his lover, and the muted emotions of their friends, it was a feeling shared by the whole household.

**Author's Note:**

> [The Extended Verse landing page](http://archiveofourown.org/works/987616)


End file.
